Microsoft Trying Every Possibility To Win Over The Chinese Officials

According to the Chinese leaders, Microsoft is not one of the companies that are struggling to make a comeback from the mishap that took place in the Steve Ballmer era. Instead, it believes that it is a technology trendsetter that is worth punching, to make a point— the reason for the ongoing campaign, in China, against the company. In May, the Chinese government announced a ban on installing Windows 8 on the new government computers. In continuation to that, in July, the investigators raided Microsoft offices in the country, and when enquired about the process, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said it was examining whether the Windows and Office software of the company violated China’s antimonopoly law.

Now, the Chinese government has put more pressure on Microsoft again, but this time it is for tax evasion allegations, which might be a response to the talk in Washington about the Chinese cyber attacks. Another way that China used to show its annoyance is by clouting off a famous American company operating in China. Soon enough, only a few days after Rogers gave evidence to Congress, the Xinhua news agency informed that the Chinese government has ordered a U.S. multinational, that has been identified as “M”—had to pay more than $150 million to cover up for taxes, interest, and future tax payments. It was clearly visible that Microsoft was the only company that fitted the description, the reporters informed. But it stated the Microsoft has still not confirmed that it is the company in question.

But, Microsoft has always been trying hard to win over the Chinese officials. Last year, when the Chinese government wanted technology companies and Multinationals to move beyond Beijing and Shanghai, to boost its interior provinces, Microsoft immediately proclaimed a partnership with the government of Yunnan, a lesser known IT and Technology hub in China. And, as a part of the alliance, Microsoft also said that it would help in the research and development of software in 18 languages.

Although now, gestures and offers like these from the multinationals don’t seem to have any value in the Chinese government. Through Microsoft, the Chinese government maybe wants to send a warning to the U.S. government. Or maybe it wants to pull down the revenue of the foreign companies and help improve the local companies, thereby increasing the revenue for its products and software. Also, reports were doing the rounds stating that in the forthcoming days, the government would be launching its own operating system that would act as a replacement for the Microsoft operating systems like Windows XP that is currently running on more than 86% of the computers used in China.

Microsoft is not just the only U.S. multinational company that is being subjected to pressure from the Chinese government. Some of the other companies that have been targets for them also include Qualcomm, Apple, and Google etc; where Google specially had its dose of grief as well, which included an investigation of fraud in 2007, before it decided to redirect search queries outside the mainland, in 2010.